Maxima Operator
**Exponentiation operator.
Maxima recognizes ** as the same operator as ^ in input,
and it is displayed as ^ in 1-dimensional output,
or by placing the exponent as a superscript in 2-dimensional output.
The fortran function displays the exponentiation operator as **,
whether it was input as ** or ^.
Examples:
(%i1) is (a**b = a^b); (%o1) true (%i2) x**y + x^z; z y (%o2) x + x (%i3) string (x**y + x^z); (%o3) x^z+x^y (%i4) fortran (x**y + x^z); x**z+x**y (%o4) done